Too Many Samples on the Music Tray
Guitar positioned next to a songbook.
Photo by Matt Gibson (Flickr)
Have you ever listened to a song and thought, “This sounds so much like another song by a different artist?”
The term “sampled” refers to the act of reusing a portion of an existing sound or audio file in a new composition, which has been an ongoing trend in music for many years.
Artists have used sampling as a way to complement their songs or even as a way to bring a familiar element to the track.
On Oct. 1, British singer/songwriter Olivia Dean’s record label and music publishers were sued by Mattie Music Group, alleging she copied “Just the Two of Us” by Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers in her song “I’ve Seen It.”
The lawsuit alleges Dean’s song replicates a familiar melody and word delivery to Withers’ hit song, causing some fans to notice the similarities between the two right away.
Mattie Music Group, which handles all of singer/songwriter Bill Withers’ publishing catalog, hired musicologist Alexander Stewart in an attempt to find similarities between the two.
The lawsuit concerns alleged copying of the melody rather than reuse of the original recording.
To use an audio sample, artists generally need licenses covering both the sound recording (master rights) and the underlying musical composition (publishing rights).
If copyright is infringed, rights holders can sue or request that the recording be removed from services.
The lawsuit targets Dean’s record label and music publishers, who are currently quiet on the situation at hand.
The conflict over Dean’s song and Withers’ work isn’t the first time we’ve seen these lawsuits happen in the music industry. Instances where artists notice their work being used without proper copyright approval in others' work aren’t an uncommon occurrence.
We’ve seen this happen in the past with “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice vs. “Under Pressure” by Queen or “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye vs. “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran.
With so many artists utilizing samples for their music, does it leave out the opportunity to create something new and fresh? Or are we going to be hearing the same songs over and over again for years to come?
“Music has never truly been original,” said Noah Wright ‘28.
“Since its inception in early humans, music has been repetitions or slight variations of the same chord progression,” said Wright, voicing the opinion that it's hard to create something original when everything has just been repeated from the past.
Creating a song requires so many different elements, but when those elements are reused constantly over time, it's hard to find any sort of originality.
“A new song is still using the same finite range of notes as songs before, and generally, note selections are similar,” said Wright.
One of the things music lovers alike love is something that feels original. Getting to hit play on a new track and have that euphoric feeling of being swept into brand new sounds, tempos and melodies reminds us of the reasons we engulf ourselves in tunes.
But when songs blend into each other, fans start to wonder if the future of music is going to feature any new sounds or just rewrite the same songs.